Dear Editor,
With reference to your well-written and interesting recent article “UN Committee Grills Maldives Delegation on human rights commitments”, the Foreign Ministry welcomes such efforts to disseminate information about the Maldives’ important interactions with the UN human rights machinery. The UN Treaty Bodies are the guardians of the international human rights conventions and the Maldives has taken a number of steps over recent years to work more closely with those Bodies in order to strengthen our human rights protection system.
However, I would like to make one important clarification regarding the article. You write, in the third paragraph, that “the committee noted that the government’s historical position had “been to deny the existence of racial discrimination in the country as the Maldives has a small homogeneous population, of the same origin, pursuing the same religion, and speaking the same language.” It is important to clarify that this “historical position” refers to the reports submitted under the CERD Convention by the former Government. The current Government, in its report to CERD and in its interactions with the Committee, started from a position that racial and related discrimination is a problem in the Maldives, as it is in all countries, and that we must all accept that the problem exists in order to take meaningful steps to address it. In this regard, the current Government is committed to closely reviewing the findings and recommendations of the CERD Committee, and to working with all national stakeholders to confront discrimination in line with our international obligations.
Regards
Iru
Irushaadha Abdul Sattar is the Director of Communications for the Maldives Foreign Ministry.
All letters are the sole view of the author and do not reflect the editorial policy of Minivan News. If you would like to write a letter, please submit it to [email protected]
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Maldives is one ofnthe most racist countries I known of. I was born in srilanka but am a Maldivian national. What shocks me deeply is that even the young generation is extremely xenophobic and shockingly racist. We need to break these to mature as a nation and as people.
is this the official view or some personal blog post "Iru"
welcome brothers and sisters of Maldives. it has a small homogeneous population of the same origin, of same language and same culture. so there is no racial discrimination. such a country is uncommon in the world.i think the people of Maldives are lucky one.nice country , dream land Maldives. there are enormous opportunities to become one of best countries of the world.
Dear Briko,
it is a letter to the editor (minivannews). GOD! how dumb are you?!!
Thank You